My Top 11 Most Hated Storytelling Cliches (Ver. 2)
So a couple of... years back it seems (time flies, doesn't it?) I made a Top 10 or 11 list of my most hated cliches in storytelling. Considering how our tastes evolve and change, and how much I've learned about media and storytelling in that time I thought I'd do another... more refined list. The rules are simple, in that there's only really one - each of these cliches must be (at least a large chunk of the time) an intentional choice by use of the author. I can't put in things like "Mary Sue" or "filler." Each of these types of cliches, while it doesn't exactly tempt me to do an atrocity review on it, instantly loses some goodwill with me when it comes to the story. The order here is how much they annoy me, and nothing really else. It's a personal opinion list kind of thing. So, without further ado. Number 11: Cliffhangers I've written before how much I hate cliffhangers: Writing Tips - Cliffhangers (Don't Use 'Em). Most of my ill will towards them happens because of how many cliffhangers never get resolved. Sometimes the movie didn't make enough money (every video game movie ever), the video game wasn't popular enough (Beyond Good & Evil), people just sit on the property and do nothing with it for years, or sometimes someone important in production just dies. Here's my logic. If I get to the end of a television episode that I really like, I'm bound to watch the next episode. To me, all a cliffhanger is is an excuse to not actually end the story, and it feels like a really cheap move. If I'm not into the show (I'm just trying to sample it), and I get to a cliffhanger, it's insulting nature becomes more apparent. A lot of people like cliffhangers, and that's fine, but for me I don't see too much use in them. This one is number 11 because even if everyone was doing it, a product can only really do it once. Number 10: Mom/Dad, when You Coming Home? Remember that 90's movie formula? A kid has a big game or a ballet recital or something, and the father makes a promise to attend that event. He doesn't because work gets in the way, and it's all his fault and he's a miserable asshole for doing this. This is the kind of cliche that's ripe for deconstruction. In reality land, let's say a man turns down this important business meeting and actually turns up to the big game. He should be getting a pink slip in the mail within two weeks. This story seems to be under the delusion that "work is the most fun thing ever." No... work is work. And yes, some people are workaholics, but all too often it seems to be the place of work's choice of having the parent stay away from the big event; not the individual parent's choice. Like here's the rebuttal "if I don't go to this meeting little Jimmy, I won't be able to afford your uniform for next season... and then you won't be able to play." This cliche seems to be dying in recent years (luckily), but it still pops up from time to time. Number 9: The Status Quo is God This one is... a lot lower than it was last time. Maybe it's disillusionment, or maybe it's shows like Rick & Morty or Adventure Time or Steven Universe or Friendship is Magic moving beyond this old formula that a show must be set in stone episode in and episode out. And there are shows that go too far the other way, like The Fairly OddParents. I still think I hate this more than "quick to change." I've spoken about this one before, so I won't be too long. When a show continually returns to its set formula, it limits the show's potential. It's too often an excuse for "playing it safe." It gives the show a clear half-life. It's more limiting than liberating. And it's way too frequently used to brush aside terrible character actions. Number 8: Not Dead After All/Disney Death Speaking of... The Status Quo is Dead, there's the particularly worst case. I say it's a different trope because this happens a lot in movies (kids movies in particular) where there's no set formula. It's known as Disney Death because it's a well known part of the typical formula (even though the canon has the two most widely known exceptions: The Lion King and Bambi). Actually, those two movies are a perfect example of why I hate this trope. What kind of movie would Bambi be if Bambi's mother came back at the end? You know, a movie about growing up. And how much better would The Lion King be if Mufasa didn't really die? That'd be a really cheap way of making Simba not feel guilty, wouldn't it? You've probably know the scene. The character is lying dead after some chaos or action packed battle. Everyone is sad and the movie keeps dragging out the sap. But whaaaatttt? The character isn't dead after all. Aren't you happy now? No. No, I'm not. You lied to me, movie. Here's what it'd be like if a person did this. "Hey Julie, we're going to give away all of your toys to charity!" And after she's crying for three minutes, you tell her that you're not giving her toys away to charity. Even though Disney has the most notable exceptions to this rule, they really like to pull this for some reason. From Snow White to Frozen. The idea of death is that death is not a temporary thing. Number 7: Gross out/Shock Over Storytelling 'Honestly, you can pretty much put what I said in my ''Mr. Pickles review here. It explains it pretty well: link '''Number 6: Karma Houdini/Designated Hero/Designated Villain In my most recent review, I said that when you watch The Annoying Orange, you're just waiting for the knife to come down on top of him. Why do people think that it's... better if this doesn't happen? Why do people think it's funny if SpongeBob and Patrick destroy things with no recourse? The reason that this... is so low on the list, is because it's often a mistake. It's usually a badly done story, or the writer not thinking out all of the implications. Then you have things like Fanboy & Chum Chum. I posed this question in my latest review as well: "why does anyone keep these assholes around?" Referring to FB & CC, Coconut Fred, Behduce & Sway Sway. Let's rephrase the question to "why does anyone find this funny?" I suppose it's trying to hark back to the antics of The Animaniacs. I mean, Fanboy & Chum Chum even live in a fucking water tower. But what that show understood that these don't is that the characters the Animaniacs played off of, and their reactions were much more important than what the Animaniacs did. Also, the side characters sometimes got a happy moment, while even the Animaniacs themselves had to go through difficulty at some points (Wacko's Potty Emergency for a clear example). Number 5: Most Sitcom Tropes I've... made it no secret that I really despise the sitcom formula. I've gone on and on about it. Even if the particular tropes don't bother you, you need to notice that this stuff is really overdone. I mean, how many shows about a stupid husband married to a nagging wife can you tolerate before it gets old? And it's not just in our sitcoms anymore, it's also in many of our commercials. Here is your typical cleaning ad: Man: Honey, we need to get out of the house. Right now! Women: Why? Man: Dramatic I tried to do laundry! house explodes Narrator: Buy Borox Bleach. And then people wonder why men don't do their share of the housework. I'm not going to deny that the element of sexism is most of the reason I don't like this. I mean take a look at this commercial link. Oh wait, apparently it's not sexist or demeaning to both men and women. www.theguardian.com/media/2009… . By that logic, this isn't sexist either: www.nydailynews.com/entertainm… (I seriously wonder what they're going to be saying in 50 years about the first ad and its kin). And if the middle link rings true... this kind of ad works. Their profits went up. There are a lot of other really stupid sitcom tropes to. "We're staying in this miserable marriage for the kids because we're good people. I mean not my stupid abusive SO. But I'm a good person. Just got to lace their tea with laxatives." I don't know if this is politically correct or offensive or anything, but newsflash: a happy divorce is a million times better for a child's health than a bitter marriage. One of the things I learned when posting my Screams of Silence part II video is that many people think that "saying terrible things about the other parent" is just something that normal people do. No... that's literally the number one thing you're NOT supposed to do when you're divorced. It can lead to a very real thing called Parental Alienation Syndrome - the kind of thing that needs therapy to come to terms with. Speaking of kids, in a sitcom it seems that every kid is an accident and that accident completely destroyed any hopes or ambitions that their parents had. These sitcoms don't exactly present a very good portrayal of anyone. "Only women are capable of housework" is a terrible message for either gender, for one. Beyond that, there was an entire episode of Home Improvement where Jill had to come to the terms with the fact she was.... gasp... wrong about something compared to her husband. There's an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Deborah couldn't stand the fact that a psychiatrist was taking her husband's side on any issue. While they portray men as idiots, they portray women as shallow, and kids as nothing more than burdens. It's... just television, but there seem to be a lot of people who take any aspect of this formula as "normal." What the sitcom needs is another deconstruction, another reformulation. It needs to take on a new face, deconstructing these cliches and bringing the genre into the 21st century. Number 4: All Men Are Perverts/All Women are Prudes/Their Extensions This is a type of cliche that... has always annoyed me, even before I did the research for the Peter-Assment ''review. Being an asexual, a lot of people assumed that I was perverted or hypersexual because I was a guy. When personally, I don't think about sex... or at least, when I do think about sex, I don't think about ''having ''sex. I know this is about "media stereotypes" but, there's no denying that this has affected mainstream society. It's our prevailing idea of sex and sexuality at present: that men always want sex, and women never want sex. Both of which are bunk. For example, I've recently considered becoming an elementary school teacher, and I already know it'll be difficult to both get the job and keep the job with this prevailing idea to the point where it's borderline "why bother." And yes, for male asexuals or even males with low libidos, this makes people think that there's something wrong with them or that they're broken. And an asexual woman may never even realize that she's asexual because of this stereotype/cliche/whatever. And I swear... this lead to a lot of disillusionment with my society, some of the laws I had to look into in regards to this (''Hermesmann vs. Seyer is fucking ridiculous). But seriously "We need to cut down on the HIV epidemic." Then stop throwing people in prison for minor drug offenses, and actually do something about prison rape. That won't cure HIV but it will massively slow down the spread in the United States. "We need to do something about the obesity epidemic." Stop subsidizing the fucking corn industry. Literally, the only food I have that doesn't have HFCS right now, is I kid you not, potato chips. I'm... getting off topic. I really do want to make longer videos about what I talked about in the Peter-Assment videos (among other issues), and if the demand is up there I will do it on my second channel. As infuriating as those videos made me, I do enjoy making videos like the further thoughts of both Screams of Silence and Peter-Assment. But, back on topic. Society has always had backwards and stupid ideas about sex - it's nothing new. I mean, in the the 1800's, therapists literally treated female horniness (known as "female hysteria") by inventing the vibrator. The only way we'll move past it is by being open with ourselves and honest about each other. Not relying on these stupid stereotypes. 'Number 3: Megward the Wizard '''Considering that this list is about writing tropes and societal effect is only part of the equation, let's talk about one of the biggest missteps I frequently cover in what I review: a character who exists just to be abused. This... can work, but the character needs to be both optimistic and annoying (Fluffy & Uranus from ''Duckman). But... I just don't get why people attempt to make so many episodes with Squidward at the ass end of abuse, or shows like Stressed Eric where that's the entire point. When we see someone in pain, it triggers our sympathy. Unless they've done something bad... which these characters never do in the episodes which they get abused. I've talked about this one enough, so... 'Number 2: Crime Shows - He MUST be Guilty '''I want you to watch any episode of ''Law & Order, and do what our court system is supposed to do - have the presumption that said character is innocent. Then watch in horror as each of our "protagonists" lies, manipulates, and essentially blackmails this guy into getting himself deeper and deeper into a hole because "he must be guilty." Honestly, maybe it's just me playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, but the stuff they're willing to do in shows like Law and Order is downright horrifying. Every protection of law we have is always portrayed as the worst obstacle in existence. Defense attorneys are portrayed as these horrible people who will do anything to help their obviously guilty clients go free. Anytime anyone does anything remotely reminiscent of due process is cast in a negative light. And unlike Phoenix Wright, which was actually trying to show a bias in Japan's legal system, Law & Order is portraying the side that has the advantage as downtrodden. John Oliver has made quite a few good videos on how people actually get treated in our justice system BEFORE ''they get convicted: Public Defenders: link Mandatory Minimums: link Bail: link Municipal Violations: link Civil Forfeiture: link I tend to hate crime shows even more than sitcoms because of this weird formula that they've got going. I mean, another thing in this society. Even if you're relieved of a criminal charge (declared not guilty), people will still assume that you've done something bad. And you just got away with it, so you're even worse. Here's another experiment. Watch any episode of ''Law & Order or any of its spin-offs. Imagine that they found your finger prints at the crime scene (and you didn't do anything), and watch with horror what they think they're entitled to do to you. 'Number 1: Freudian Excuse - Abusive Childhood equals Abusive Adult '''You've seen this one before. Our villain is a psycho abusive jackass because he had an abusive childhood. Or sometimes downright evil. Being abused as a child turns you insane. Being abused as a child causes you to disconnect from the world. Sometimes it's used as an excuse, sometimes it's just an explanation. It happens a lot in crime shows, and it happens quite a bit in sitcoms too (from Benny Lopez to Abe Simpson). And as I've stated in the ''Screams of Silence addendum, it happens a lot when we talk about actual abuse. The main problem I have with this is basically with the children that see them. Either the child realizes that they've been abused, or they don't. Now if they don't realize they're being abused, and what they're doing is "normal" to them, then yes there's a chance that they'll go on to be abusive (not outright serial killers though, as sometimes portrayed), and the portrayal falls deaf on them. However, the child that does realize they're being abused. What would their reaction to seeing this stuff be? Well, with me personally, it was quite a bit of self-loathing and fear of what I'd eventually become. I'm not going to lie. Why this cliche is my most hated is because of personal experience. When you watch these stories, and they are fucking everywhere, you become afraid of what you'll become. And no, it doesn't help you "correct your behavior" or anything like that, it builds up anxiety and leaves you further and further from healthy. Having an abusive childhood will always affect you, sure. But it's about as varied as a non-abusive childhood. It's not a one-way ticket to being a screwed up person, and with enough time and enough distance you can heal from what was done to you. The abused children who grow up to abuse, or be abused, do so because they think it's normal. You know, like the general public thinking that it's normal to poison their kids' version of the other parent after a divorce. And sometimes that isn't even enough. And even if someone thinks abuse is "normal" they can strive for better than normal. The delusion of abuse being normal can be cured with therapy and exposure to what is normal and what is acceptable. Maybe I'll talk about this one in depth sometime too, but I think I'm done for tonight. ------- So, what are your most hated cliches ever? Could be for personal reasons, overseeing them, or just plain annoyance. Category:Top Tens